[Music] foreign [Music] [Music] me [Music] hey [Music] so [Music] now [Music] good morning and welcome to the dinner garden at canterbury cathedral on this morning of sunday september the 13th as we come together to say our morning prayers wherever you are in the world please feel welcome and bring your own concerns your own prayers to the prayers that we shall say together this day september the 13th in years gone by has had a certain significance and the one we remember first is the year 335 when the church of the holy sepulchre was consecrated on this day in jerusalem so we pray for all christians of all denominations worshiping in the city of jerusalem this morning we remember also in 1989 that bishop desmond tutu led the largest anti-apartheid march in south africa we have in days very recently given thanks for his courage on the date of his consecration as primate but today we remember the historic event of that courageous march well it's also uh a date when in 1894 jb priestly the novelist and playwright was was born he wrote the good companions and also he wrote an inspector calls which many of you will have seen maybe and in 1916 roald dahl was born in cardiff author of such books as james and the giant peach charlie and the chocolate factory matilda fantastic mr fox george's marvelous medicine and the big friendly giant and oh so many more but uh we give thanks for his imagination and we'll come back to him and actually even the thoughts of jb priestly later on in our reflections this is the date in 1224 also that sin francis of assisi received the stigmata and we shall think of that later in the day as we begin holy cross day tomorrow so let's uh go on with our morning prayers oh lord open our lips and our mouth shall proclaim your praise may christ the day star dawn in our hearts and triumph over the shades of night blessed are you sovereign god creator of all to you be glory and praise forever you founded the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the work of your hands in the fullness of time you made us in your image and in these last days you have spoken to us in your son jesus christ the word made flesh as we rejoice in the gift of your presence among us let the light of your love always shine in our hearts your spirit ever renew our lives and your praises ever be on our lips blessed be god father son and holy spirit blessed be god forever the night has passed and the day lies open before us let us pray with one heart and mind does we rejoice in the gift of this new day so may the light of your presence so god set our hearts on fire with love for you now and forever amen our morning psalm on this 13th morning of the month is psalm 68 and we use some verses from that now let god arise and let his enemies be scattered let those that hate him flee before him as the smoke vanishes so may they vanish away as wax melts at the fire so let the wicked perish at the presence of god but let the righteous be glad and rejoice before god let them make merry with gladness sing to god sing praises to his name exalt him who rides on the clouds the lord is his name rejoice before him father of the fatherless defender of widows god in his holy habitation god gives the solitary a home and brings forth prisoners to songs of welcome but the rebellious inhabit a burning desert oh god when you went forth before your people when you marched through the wilderness the earth shook and the heavens dropped down rain at the presence of god the lord of sinai at the presence of god the god of israel you sent down a gracious reign o god you refreshed your inheritance when it was weary your people came to dwell there in your goodness oh god you provide for the poor blessed be the lord who bears our burdens day by day for god is our salvation god is for us the god of salvation god is the lord who can deliver from death we see your solemn processions oh god your processions into the sanctuary my god and my king sing to god you kingdoms of the earth make music in praise of the lord he rides on the ancient heaven of heavens and sends forth his voice a mighty voice ascribe power to god whose power is above the clouds so today it's sunday morning so the lesson is a special one we leave saint luke for a while and we'll return to the acts of the apostles on the days of next week but for the moment we are here in the book of the prophet isaiah the 44th chapter beginning at the 24th verse thus says the lord your redeemer who formed you from the womb i am the lord who made all things who alone stretched out the heavens who spread out the earth by myself who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners who turns the wise back and makes their knowledge foolish who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers who says of jerusalem she shall be inhabited and of the cities of judah they shall be built and i will raise up their ruins who says to the deep be dry i will dry up your rivers who says of cyrus he is my shepherd and he shall fulfill all my purpose and of jerusalem she shall be built and of the temple your foundation shall be laid thus says the lord to his anointed to cyrus whose right hand i have grasped to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings to open doors before him that gates may not be closed i will go before you and level the exalted places i will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron i will give you the treasures of darkness and the hordes in secret places that you may know that it is i the lord the god of israel who call you by your name for the sake of my servant jacob and israel my chosen i call you by your name i name you though you do not know me i am the lord and there is no other besides me there is no god i equip you though you do not know me that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me i am the lord and there is no other i form light and create darkness i make well-being and create calamity i am the lord who does all these things drop down your heavens from above and let the clouds rain down righteousness let the earth open that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit let the earth cause them both to sprout i the lord have created it this really is the most extraordinary piece of prophecy but also it's one establishing in the words of the writer of that section of isaiah the prophet and is establishing the absolute monotheism shall we call it the one and only nature of the god in whom we believe i am the lord there is none other besides me it's said over and over again as the attributes of the creator are established generally we see the chapters of isaiah between chapter 40 and chapter 55 as written by a successor to the one who wrote chapters 1 to 39 and this person who is following in the footsteps of the call of isaiah is a person in exile his people have been in babylon as captives for 70 years and they are still held there jerusalem is in ruins the temple is in ruins and the establishment of power which took them away still holds them and in the middle of that we have this extraordinary piece of prophecy which is about to be fulfilled jerusalem will indeed be rebuilt the temple will indeed be refounded and rebuilt so that glory may be given to the only god i am the lord there is none beside me but the prophecy establishes that the lord calls people to his service and anoints them as his servants on this occasion though they do not know him for who is the prophet talking about he is talking about cyrus who was the king of kings and called himself the king of the four corners of the world for he had established the largest empire that had yet been seen and had conquered babylon or would do so soon after this prophecy and his policy was one of freedom of allowing people to go free of respecting their culture and encouraging the rebuilding of the temple in jerusalem all those words about treasures and in dark places and we're talking about the restoration to this people of the gold and silver vessels of their temple to take back on the long journey and the images that the prophet is describing is of the journey being made easier by rough places being made plain and high places being made level and deep places being infilled and water which might act as a barrier being made dry so that the people could go home there would be no gates standing in the way and what does the prophet call cyrus he gives the voice of god calling him my shepherd who will allow the people to go home and make sure of their safety and his sat traps across that area of the world the governors of the provinces will encourage the return of people to their own places it was the way cyrus ruled his empire and found that it was the best way in respect of people but there's something even more astonishing for he calls cyrus his anointed and the word is the same in hebrew is messiah here is a prefigurement of the release of captives that jesus himself will proclaim in nazareth but cyrus is not of the jewish nation cyrus has no real knowledge of any of this cyrus is a chosen instrument of god and his power although he doesn't know it is in the hands of god to effect this an extraordinary prophecy as all those prophecies of isaiah are extraordinary and we needn't wonder that when jesus came to the synagogue in nazareth he chose the scroll of the prophet isaiah which is seen all the way through as one book however it develops he chose the scroll of the prophet isaiah to read from and it was a message of freedom for captives this is a message of rebuilding of the lord naming the one he's going to use but the choice is very surprising and yet this morning we might uh we might give thanks that the lord does have special roles for each of us if we're willing to embrace them and sometimes we hardly know that we are doing his will but in reflecting and sensing what is being asked of us and in our case reflecting on the gospel and the good news of helping all to attain freedom then we begin to be ourselves the lord's shepherds the lord's anointed to another and we receive that ministry from others to ministry of freedom it comes in extraordinary ways and yet every day in a sense is a new way of starting one of the best sentences of roald dahl is in his book matilda very popular one and the sentence i'm thinking of is somewhere inside all of us is the power to change the world well that power was very much in the hands of cyrus at that time he died a long time ago in 530 bc and yet he affected all that jesus himself knew by his people settling again and rebuilding the temple and finding freedom in their land there jb priestly wrote in one of his books i've always been delighted at the prospect of a new day a fresh try one more start with perhaps a bit of magic waiting somewhere behind the morning by that he means something entirely unexpected and out of our control which seems wonderful to us to me this prophecy seems amazing and yet as history unfolds it's totally significant we're used to david being called the lord's shepherd the lord's anointed certainly not cyrus but cyrus whom we know a lot about historically was the one who opened the gates and allowed the people to go home so this morning let's give thanks for that and let's give thanks for ways in which we ourselves might be the lord's agent of freedom to others and also in some way the changing of the world i can't resist just mentioning the one book that roald dahl it was published i think after his death wrote about my particular vocation the vicar of nibbleswick who had a particular problem in that although he didn't know it words came out backwards and so when he was speaking very often his parishioners were astonished by what he was saying and there was no way it seemed that he could stop saying it because he didn't know he was doing it i'll let you read the book if you haven't read it and then in the end uh this was written actually for the dyslexia society uh for and he he invents a completely unknown kind of dyslexia for this poor vicar robert lee he's called so he even bears my christian name and as he says his words backwards people think what can be done well a doctor is found and we're told that in the end the reverend robert lee could speak the words forward as long as he himself walked backwards so he spent his life walking backwards from that moment onwards utterly ridiculous but in the end so much of vocation is astonishing and ridiculous and none more so than this one this morning for the from the amazing prophecy of isaiah in a particular kind of parable and song that he gives us thanks be to god for that well let's uh say our morning prayers on this particular day and we on this morning are praying in the anglican communion for the anglican church of south america and we pray for the presiding bishop of the anglican church of south america and bishop of argentina gregory venables who has a very strong connection uh with canterbury itself and is known very well here and here in our diocese of canterbury as we pray for justin our archbishop for rose bishop of dover and tim bishop at lambeth we pray for the university of kent in canterbury and its its chaplaincy this morning and the the um diverse international community which gathers there and we remember the particular difficulties it faces at this time of pandemic pandemic as with all universities but we pray for the multi-faith chaplaincy team but particularly for the full-time anglican chaplain stephen ladd and his ministry there so let us then say the prayer for this particular day the 14th sunday after trinity almighty god whose son jesus christ has opened for us a new and living way into your presence give us pure hearts and steadfast wills to worship you in spirit and in truth through jesus christ our lord amen so as we give thanks for each other on this sunday morning we say together in different languages the prayer our lord taught us our father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever amen moment of silence now while we bring our own prayers and intentions before the lord [Music] the peace of god which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of god and of his son jesus christ our lord the blessing of god almighty the father the son and the holy spirit be upon you upon those whom you love and those whom you would pray for now and always are men